Anglophile Reviews: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The following is a guest review from Robyn H. Robyn is a California Girl through and through, but she has wished she could live in London for what seems like her whole life. She loves Shakespeare and Tudor history (and admits to a strange obsession with the Tower of London), and suspects she’ll want to cry once she finally sets foot on English soil. Thanks Robyn!

Jane Austen is quintessentially British, and her novel Pride and Prejudice has been one of the most cherished love stories in classic literature. But what would happen if you were to combine Pride and Prejudice with gore, senseless violence, and the undead? You get the exciting and entertaining Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy that has been loved by generations, but in this version, Zombie Armageddon has been ravaging England for 55 years. The undead walk the earth and feast upon any unlucky living they may find. Any gentleman or gentlewoman of consequence is well-bred, of considerable fortune, and can slice apart a manky dreadful (a euphemism used often in the book, as “zombie” is apparently uncouth in polite society) with the best of them. Elizabeth and her sisters are some of the best zombie killers in all Hertfordshire.

The book takes a little while to get into the swing of things, taking time to introduce the Family Bennet (I am convinced that David Tennant and Catherine Tate should play the bickering Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in the upcoming film adaptation), and chooses to step ladylike into the plot rather than diving in headlong like a more modern tale would do; this may indeed be held over from the Austen original. However, once the story really gets going (or as much as it can get going in a Jane Austen novel), it becomes an engaging story that just might keep you reading for hours on end.

I think the split between Austen’s material and Grahame-Smith’s is around 85% Austen/15% “ultraviolent zombie mayhem,” and as a result, the title lives up to its name: Grahame-Smith has given us Austen’s Pride and Prejudice… and zombies. Everything, from the cover and illustrations to the tone Grahame-Smith uses (mimicking Austen fairly well) gives PPZ the appearance of a proper classic novel, just with zombies mixed in. However, it sometimes seems as though the blend isn’t the best it could be, and the zombie sub-plot could have been a little more pronounced. In short, I wanted more zombies.

The book plays out more like an action movie than a bone-crunching zombie horrorfest. This is where the book speeds up, giving us the aforementioned “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.” Those with squeamish stomachs can take heart, however, as the book isn’t too heavy on the zombie mayhem, and it isn’t really “ultraviolent,” either. I, who usually stays away from too much gore and violence, found myself thinking there could have been more. (Go figure.) The battles against the undead hordes are treated in the same polite tone as the rest of the book, though the book is still descriptive enough to bring some interesting mental pictures. The illustrations don’t shy away from the carnage, either, but at the same time are kept from becoming too graphic.

I enjoyed the book right away – even down to the book discussion questions at the back of the book (making perfect topics for fun discussions in English class); however, it took me two readings to fully appreciate what twisted genius I was reading. This may be due to not having read the original Austen beforehand, though I don’t think it’s necessary to do so.

Is it the most serious work of fiction ever? Not by a long shot. Does it take itself seriously? Again, nope. Will it survive the present pop culture fascination with zombies and other supernatural creatures (werewolves, vampires, etc.)? Only time will tell. Does it get you weird looks from strangers if you read it in public? Speaking from experience, oh yes.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to fans of Jane Austen, classic and/or British literature, zombie movies, and not taking oneself too seriously. Just make sure to write your name inside the cover – I’ve had a number of friends ask to borrow my copy.

Video Peek at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Website Launches

I’ve been watching the development of the Harry Potter themed amusement park at Universal Studios in Florida with great interest. If they do it right – it could be totally awesome.

They’re going to be airing an ad during the Super Bowl and we have a sneak peek:

They’ve also launched a new website that gives you a peak inside the future park. Check it out here.

The park is supposed to open this spring. We’ll keep you posted on developments.

Sophie Dahl has married Jamie Cullum

The 32-year-old model-turned-author tied the knot with jazz musician Jamie, 30, in a romantic ceremony held in Britain’s New Forest on Saturday (09.01.10).

The couple took over the 29-room Lime Wood Hotel, near Lyndhurst, Hants to create a “winter wonderland” for their guests.

Sophie’s godmother Babs Powell, who attended the ceremony, said: “It was a very beautiful occasion for close family and friends. Sophie looked absolutely fantastic.”

Sophie – granddaughter of late children’s writer Roald Dahl – was given away by her actor father Julian Holloway in the civil ceremony, with her half-brothers Luke and Ned and half-sister Clover looking on.

She also put her differences with her mother, 52-year-old Tessa, behind her for the day, as she attended the wedding.

Jamie and Sophie met at a charity event two-and-a-half years ago, and their engagement was made public in April 2009 after Sophie was spotted wearing an engagement ring at a party.

Describing how he met Sophie, Jamie said: “We hit it off immediately. But someone like me never entertains the idea of going after someone like her, so I didn’t.

“I couldn’t assume she would be interested in me – but it worked! Lucky old me – it turned out to be much more.”

Denis Lipman from A Prodigal Tourist Reads the First Chapter of his New Book

Our lovely British Recipe and food blogger – Denis Lipman – has his book coming out in the next few weeks.

To mark it – he’s made a lovely youtube video of himself reading the first chapter in his book – A Yank Back To England.

After watching this – I can safely say that I can’t wait to read his book!

Back to Dagenham, England

Guest Post: His Name was Writ in Water – A Profile of John Keats

The following is a guest post from Steve Graubart, of ArtSpock, about the enigmatic English poet John Keats.

John Keats, born in Finsbury Pavement (near London) in1795, may be the greatest poet who ever lived. I am not alone in this view. Humanities scholars, poetry anthologies and literary journals all recognize him as one of the leading lions of world poesy. Keats weaves love, nature, myth, and history into sonnets, couplets, and other forms; each type of poem perfectly suited to its subject matter. Whether a lengthy epic, or a shorter piece, Keats mastered both styles with equal aplomb.  He wrote most of his major poems from 1817 to 1820, a three-year span that changed the face of Romantic lyric verse..

Much is known about Keat’s personal life. He wrote hundreds of letters to friends and family members that have survived intact to the present day. The Selected Letters of John Keats is itself regarded as a major literary work. These missives give great insight into his values and passions, and it is fascinating to see how a great poet expresses himself in letters.

At times, things could get contentious. Sometimes it was friends calling into question some incident or behavior. Other times, he became a lightning rod in literary squabbles, the target of jealous peers or obstinate publishers. He vigorously responded to personal attacks in the only way he knew—head on. A fine-tuned, sensitive imagination did not preclude him from vigorous debate, or even fisticuffs.

Keat’s literary achievements extend beyond the poems. He formulated a philosophical concept, Negative Capability, which marked his poetry and has reverberated powerfully throughout the arts. In a December, 1817 letter to his brothers George and Tom Keats, he explained Negative Capability as the ability of a person to resist the temptation to overreach in defining mysteries, to be capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries and doubts without irritable reaching after fact and reason. He believed that many mysterious aspects of the world should retain their special status as questions, and that any coarse attempt to quantify or extensively explain them was not only bad form, but fruitless as well. He admired Shakespeare for this quality and thought Coleridge lacking in this regard.

The following poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn, illustrates Keat’s extraordinary talent to elicit deep emotion and empathy, even from static characters painted on a clay water container.

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thou express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Jane Campion’s outstanding new film, Bright Star, portrays the love story of Keats and Fanny Brawne. Their love, and his life, was cut short by tuberculosis in 1921. His gravestone bears the epitaph “Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water,” below a lyre with broken strings.

About the Author: Steve Graubart is a web-marketing writer and magazine journalist in financial services, K-12 education and builder/design industries. He is the host of ArtSpock, a blog dedicated to literary, visual, music and media arts, and is based in Chicago.

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